Cost of wheel building...

alan_d · Dec 21, 2012

CRC's set up is insane here - ive never witnessed the scale of anything quite like it. They have warehouses and divisions all over Co. Antrim.
Id dare say its economys of scale.
Its still damn hard to beat the feeling you get riding your own built wheels - particularly if theyre an intricate lace up

Mindmap3 · Dec 21, 2012

Going down the CRC route.... No bonus for us this year.

If they'll build them for free that's cool with me. All of their wheels I've had before have been built well so I have confidence in them.

Anthony · Dec 21, 2012

It always used to be Merlin BITD, but they've no doubt lost out to Chain Reaction over the years.

It's just a matter of volume. There's no way your LBS can compete with a workshop that's churning out wheels all day. At the LBS it's all about reminding yourself how to do it, finding the tools, have we got any spokes in stock, buying spokes, rims and hubs in small volumes and low discounts. The cost is doubled in no time, and the quality is no better, if anything worse.

I think I'd still go for Merlin, but perhaps only because that was the thing BITD and this is Retrobike.

Mindmap3 · Dec 21, 2012

Anthony":1o9zv41b said:
It always used to be Merlin BITD, but they've no doubt lost out to Chain Reaction over the years.

It's just a matter of volume. There's no way your LBS can compete with a workshop that's churning out wheels all day. At the LBS it's all about reminding yourself how to do it, finding the tools, have we got any spokes in stock, buying spokes, rims and hubs in small volumes and low discounts. The cost is doubled in no time, and the quality is no better, if anything worse.

I think I'd still go for Merlin, but perhaps only because that was the thing BITD and this is Retrobike.

I've used Merlin in the past and the wheels were very good - I had a quick look but they don't have the hub that I want (Sun Ringle Disc Jockey - its half price at CRC too).

One of the LBS's don't even bother having a full time builder, just a guy who comes in one day a week. His wheels are pretty darn good too - its just a bit slow.

reanimation · Dec 21, 2012

Is Dave Hinde still worth a look? A retro days option!

http://www.davehinde.com/road-bikes/wheels.html

I ended up at CRC and places as I was usually looking for 20mm axle jobbers n stuff.

yo-eddy · Dec 21, 2012

I build a few wheels myself, some high end some ghetto style ....... but must admit I have all my wheels now build by a "freak" (read, local proffesional wheelbuilder with a passion for his job) with all the spoke tension 100% equal and haven't touched a spoke since ..... be 95kg with an aggresive riding style.

dbmtb · Dec 27, 2012

If the company is making the money on the parts they don't need to make the same money on the labour.

Simples.

If you go into a shop with an old hub and rim it will cost you more in labour many places than if you also buy the hub and rim there because the mechanic still costs the same hourly rate but with less profit on the parts. If a punter wants to buy sufficiently high end rim, spokes and hubs I will often build the wheel itself for very little.

malt · Dec 27, 2012

When i was in the trade i use to book out an hour to build a wheel (not inc spokes) in the 12 years though labour rates went from £17 to £36 an hour. As spoke calculators improved and wheel truing stands got more accurate (read company finally spent some money), i was booking out 45 minutes for the likes of radial, 1,2 & 3 cross, mixed etc and up to an hour and a half for snow flake etc.

I dread to think how much LBS's charge now.

Andy B · Dec 27, 2012

The shop that I work in charges £1 per spoke (plain gauge) & £20 per wheel for a rebuild

So to rebuild a set of wheels costs £104 for plain gauge spokes on a 32h rim

I have no idea how that stacks up against other shops locally or nationally, but our customers don't seem to mind too much

malt · Dec 27, 2012

Andy B":22t3bkbf said:
The shop that I work in charges £1 per spoke (plain gauge) & £20 per wheel for a rebuild

So to rebuild a set of wheels costs £104 for plain gauge spokes on a 32h rim

I have no idea how that stacks up against other shops locally or nationally, but our customers don't seem to mind too much

£1 a spoke!! sod that. We use to charge 14p for DT double butted!!

Cost of wheel building...

alan_d

Dirt Disciple

Mindmap3

Senior Retro Guru

Anthony

Mindmap3

Senior Retro Guru

reanimation

yo-eddy

dbmtb

malt

Retro Guru

Andy B

malt

Retro Guru

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